


A Meet Cute

by notstilinski



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, And Bucky Is Too Flustered And Anxious To Do Anything, Bucky Barnes Is A Dog Walker, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, Obviously Both Are Just Disaster Bisexuals, Sam And Riley Are Married With A Dog, Steve Is Sam's Friend That Is Visiting Them, no beta readers we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notstilinski/pseuds/notstilinski
Summary: Bucky was sure that he would not be able to take feeling that weird feeling in his stomach again any time soon.Bucky Barnes is a dog walker who meets one of his customer's attractive friends (Steve) when he's picking up the dog.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Riley/Sam Wilson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	A Meet Cute

**Author's Note:**

> Cue me rolling up nine years later with a Starbucks like...
> 
> In all honesty, I'm not that big of a Marvel fan but these boys own my wholeass heart. There might be some out of character-ness due to this fact. (But it's also an AU so they're gonna be a little out of character, I guess?) There is nothing explicitly stated but I have the idea that Bucky is an ex-soldier in this, as well. Meanwhile, I have no idea what Steve would be doing in a modern/no powers universe.
> 
> Edit: I can’t believe so many people let me go literal months without telling me about the mistakes I made? I mean- I went in and fixed them but damn guys.

He was more than aware of the fact that he was late to pick up the last dog of the day. Everything had gone smoothly, as always, until Lucky had gotten sick only a block or two down from where they had picked up Pax. It was not the first time that something had gone wrong but it was the first time that one of the dogs had gotten sick. Thankfully, Grizz’s owner had called him earlier that morning and told him that a relative had come to visit so he did not have to worry about Grizz. Which meant that he only had to deal with three dogs that day - And only two at the time of the throwing up incident. 

Being fifteen or so minutes late to pick up a dog to take them on a walk should not be that big of a deal. It was not a big deal, a small part of his mind reasoned. But that didn’t matter when Bucky always had a habit of being extremely hard on himself when it came to things that people trusted him with. Dog walking was not considered an important job but it was important to him… Mostly because it was the first job that he found that he could manage. 

“Shit, shit, shit-” Lucky and Pax seemed to have realized where they were and that they would see Sunny in only a couple of moments. They seemed completely unaware of the near panic that Bucky had worked himself into. 

Footsteps slowed as they approached the Wilson-Scott house before Bucky paused entirely. Despite the fact that he could not see into the backyard, he could hear Sunny barking and running around from where he stood. There was even a voice - A new sense of panic washed over Bucky as he fished his phone out of his pocket to check his calendar. It was Thursday which meant that he was supposed to pick up Sunny for his walk and Sam had not texted him anything about a change in their schedule. His expression screwed up, more at the sudden sharp tug from both the leashes in his hands than anything, before he slowly began to move closer to the house. 

The voice was louder once he got to the back gate and he could hear how excited Sunny was. Even if there was a change in the schedule and they didn’t text you, the voice in his head soothed, it can’t hurt to check to make sure. He had barely opened the gate before Pax was shoving his way through to greet his friend with Lucky not that far behind. And Bucky in tow. 

“Calm down, guys-” 

He barely had enough time to tug them back by their leashes before Sunny was on them. The mutt seemed even more excited than he usually was when Bucky came to pick him up, tail wagging so hard that his entire body wiggled. Bucky took a moment to kneel down and allow the dog to greet him with a soft snuffle at his face which was followed by a lick. 

It was only that Sunny turned and rushed back over in the direction that he came that Bucky looked up. And he felt like the wind was almost knocked out of him. The man standing there was unfamiliar, but Sunny seemed perfectly happy bounding around him and trying to get the ball that the man had in his hand. The man was also probably one of the most beautiful things that Bucky had ever seen. Clearing his throat, he pushed himself back up to his feet and gave a tiny wave in greeting. 

“I’m sorry,” Bucky started without a thought because obviously he wasn’t needed today. Unless the guy was just some stranger and Sunny was just happy to have a new friend… Which was an incredibly stupid idea. “I didn’t get a text saying that the schedule was different-”

The stranger tried his best to give Bucky all his attention even as the dog continued to excitedly bounce around him. He even smiled, the motion making the corner of his eyes crinkle and his blue eyes light up in friendly amusement. _Oh_. Bucky really did not need finding a stranger attractive to be yet another reason he was anxious. 

“Don’t worry. Nothing’s changed-” The stranger took a couple steps closer while playing Keep Away From Sunny with the ball in his hands. Once he was a couple feet away, the stranger stopped. “At least, I don’t think anything’s changed. Unless Sam forgot to tell both of us.”

Bucky could not help the way that his shoulders slowly relaxed at the mention of Sam. Okay. So, the guy did actually know Sam and, assumingly, Riley. 

“Steve.”

He blinked slowly for a second before glancing down. The stranger -Steve- had held out his hand and was smiling at him again. It took what felt like a whole minute for Bucky to be able to raise his hand to take the outstretched one. Steve, surprisingly, did not even blink at the sight of the metal arm and shook his hand like it was completely normal. Bucky felt himself relax even more. 

Expression screwed up after a second. “So… I’m still taking Sunny?” 

The dog in question shoved himself forward and between the two leashed dogs to sniff at them. He seemed to know what was going on, at least. 

“Yeah. I just wanted to play with him a bit before he left,” Steve said and, damnit, he was smiling again. “It’s the most he’s paid attention to me since his dads left.”

The confusion on Bucky’s face must have been apparent because Steve huffed out a soft laugh. 

“Sam and I know each other from college. I’m staying with them for a couple weeks.”

Which meant that there was a chance that Bucky would be seeing more of Steve and would have to find some way to deal with how nervous he felt. It was not the same as his usual anxiety around new people - It was something different and Bucky did not want to think about why that was. (Even if the reason why was extremely obvious. Some guy that looked like a Greek god and had a cute smile? And for some reason reminded him of a friendly puppy? Bucky could only take so much). He was already making a mental note to try and avoid Steve as much as he could. 

The sound of a soft ‘click’ was enough to finally make him loose his train of thought. At some point in the few seconds he was lost in thought, Steve had gotten Sunny’s leash from somewhere and clipped it on his collar. The mutt knew exactly what was happening and seemed to become even more excited. Even though Bucky was sure that that had been impossible just a second before. Holding out the leash, the other man gave another small but genuinely friendly. Just the sight of that smile made something in Bucky’s gut twist and he had to stop himself from making a face in response to it. 

“Good luck-” Steve hummed in amusement as he glanced down at Sunny then up to Bucky, “He can drag me for miles.”

“I know how to handle it,” Bucky muttered softly as he took the leash. There was a small pause before he glanced back at the man, “I’ll have him back in, like, an hour and a half.”

Sam and Riley had probably shared Sunny’s schedule with Steve if he had known to expect Bucky. There was no reason for Bucky to actually restate what had probably already been told to him. All three dogs were easy to herd back toward the gate so the actual walk could begin. He glanced over his shoulders and practically winced as his stomach twisted again when he noticed Steve’s small wave. 

“See ya in an hour or two,” the man called with a bright smile. 

Something about the words made warmth spread through his chest but Bucky did his best to ignore it. He would try to be quiet when he dropped Sunny back off at home since the last thing he wanted was another run-in with Sam’s apparent friend. Bucky was sure that he would not be able to take feeling that weird feeling in his stomach again any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave kudos or a comment if you liked it, maybe?  
> I might try to write something for them or the Marvel fandom again if I can manage it. 
> 
> I also post a lot of my writing on my Tumblr!


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